I tested positive for COVID and because I am immune-compromised, I took a drive to South Nassau Hospital. I was hoping to get the monoclonal antibodies.
When I walked in, there was no one waiting. I was seen by a triage nurse immediately. He told me that there really wasn’t much that the doctor could do. He called the ER nurse and asked if they were still doing the monoclonal antibodies. They said they were not.
Mind you, prior to going there, I checked out the website and it said they were giving out the antibodies so why wasn’t the website updated???
The nurse said, well, you might as well wait here. There aren’t too many people and you will probably be seen right away.
I waited. I was called into the billing office and had to update my records. They still had me living at Regent Drive in Lido Beach. I moved about four years ago.
After returning to my seat in the waiting room, I noticed that the place was filling up. No one was being seen.
The woman from billing came out and said I didn’t have insurance. I told her I do. I gave her my card. A few moments later, she came out. “Is your name Hilary with two “l’s”? she asked.
“No, only one “l”, I said.
“Oh that must be the issue,” she said and then came out moments later with a new band. “Is this right?” she asked me.
It said, Hilary G. Topper. “No, I don’t know where you got the G from,” I said.
“And anyway, do you know when I’ll be called?”
“Oh, if you don’t get called in 15 minutes go to the nurse in triage,” the bookkeeper told me.
Now it was two hours since I signed in and the waiting room was packed with people.
I was feeling very uncomfortable. Not so much for me, but for the others waiting. I felt as if I were infecting the whole group. No one seemed to care. The hospital workers were just sitting there on their phones not paying attention.
I walked over to the triage nurse, “do you know how long it will be?” I asked.
“Well, we are taking people in order of severity now so it will be a long while,” he said. And at that, I asked him to remove the bracelet and told him I’m leaving. I was uncomfortable and needed to go home and stay in my bed.
I was surprised at how he didn’t care. The nurse seemed to not care that there was a full waiting room at that point. He just sat there on his phone scrolling through social media.
It was disheartening to see this and I wondered why our health system is pathetic.
After that, I headed over to CityMD where I was seen immediately and sent on my way.
Remind me not to go to South Nassau Hospital if I get sick!
